Young Black men killed by police disproportionately high in 2016

Trump presidency raises concerns that the trend could escalate in 2017.

For another year, police officers disproportionately killed young Black men in 2016, the Guardianreports.

Black males aged 15-34 were nine times more likely than other racial groups to be killed by an officer last year, and they were killed by police at four times the rate of young White men, the newspaper said.

The Guardian’s analysis is based on data it collected for The Counted, which records all reported police-involved killings.

Disparities continued in 2016 even as the total number of police killings declined. There were 1,091 recorded deaths last year, compared to 1,146 in 2015. There was also a decrease in the number of unarmed people killed by police, from 234 in 2015 to 169 in 2016.

Deaths were most likely to occur during traffic or street stops. Domestic disputes also resulted in a significant number of fatal police encounters.

The analysis revealed that few police officers faced criminal charges. According to The Guardian, prosecutors charged law enforcement officials in just 18 deaths from last year. Those exceptions were typically from widely reported incidents, including the fatal shooting of Terence Crutcherin Tulsa, Oklahoma.

A report on Sessions’ criminal justice record, by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, noted that he has criticized federal “interference” with police oversight. He has also blasted Black Lives Matter for making “really radical” and “absolutely false” statements about the police.